


Forever In My Heart

by StarthornFromScratch



Series: Assorted Minecraft Crap [3]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Evolution SMP, Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, But he brings them with him by accident, Evo SMP, Gen, Grian is not a watcher, Hermitcraft demise, How Do I Tag, I can't do anything about it, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Beta Read, Not RPF, Pewdiepie shows up in this lol, Pretty proud of this ngl, Shippers and antis can both interact, Survival, Watchers, around 1000 something words each, but hey, demise - Freeform, evolution smp - Freeform, i will add tags, just don't fight in my comments, pretty short chapters, season 6, season 7, too short in my opinion, universe where many minecraft servers/smps are in one world
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29430924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarthornFromScratch/pseuds/StarthornFromScratch
Summary: In a universe where countless servers, countries in their own right, are blended into one world there is one specific type of bird hybrid that rules over them all. The Watchers.Grian is not one of these Watchers.He's run into them before- back when he lived in the Evolution country- but he ran when they got too close. Now, in the Hermitcraft state of Season Seven, it seems all too soon when the game that nearly split his friends from their lives comes back. Almost as if... it has something to do with these black-feathered overlords which he has been thinking about so much recently.-(I wrote this on Scratch, so all the chapters are rather short because the Instructions and Notes and Credits sections have low character amounts that are allowed.)
Series: Assorted Minecraft Crap [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147808
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Introduction (not a chapter)

_information_

* * *

So, as you can probably tell (if you read the summary) I did not write this on Ao3 or even in a Google Doc as I normally do. Instead, I wrote this on Scratch (yes, the kid's coding website, that one) because there are some other really cool Hermitcraft fics on there and I thought "hey, I use Scratch _and_ I'm allowed on other sites, but some of these people aren't! They deserve another Hermitcraft fic!".

So, because of that fateful thinking, I was able to produce this.

Each chapter is short, since I needed to be able to fit them in the information sections in a Scratch project, but I put a lot of effort into making them as non-violent and yet as descriptive as possible because, again, I wrote it on a kid's site. Another smidgen of info is that there is no shipping or real violence in this at all because I didn't think that the Scratch team would even find romantic relationships appropriate. This does not necessarily mean that I am _against_ shipping, but it does mean that there won't be any in this fic.

Anyway, I drew a cover for each of the chapters on Scratch and they will be copy-pasted in here as well since the color scheme looks nice with Ao3 dark mode. (Idk what it's actually called, but it's the gray and white one where the highlight color is blue, I use it constantly.)

The Notes for each chapter will host both the original notes I wrote on Scratch and a little bit of notes from posting on here, just for the sake of details.

I post the chapters on here as they come out, the only exceptions are the first and second chapters because I didn't want the fic to be super short and so I waited for a time where I had a few more words to boast of. The first chapter was originally posted on February 11, 2021 and the second chapter was originally posted on February 13, 2021.

With that out of the way, I guess this note is pretty much over!


	2. 【one】They Sing Our Names

* * *

Grian had never been a particularly watchful child, even in the days before it all had went down, before they had found something wrong with their home. (Something off, something odd.) But besides that, for a bird hybrid this lack of awareness was especially strange, what with his relatively keen eyesight and ever moving wings.

As he would fly around the Server he could pinpoint an animal four hundred blocks away- but not the tree that he was about to run into. The other's would 'scold' him about it, but they certainly wondered what his eyesight's priorities were after he had showed up at the broken down town hall for the sixth time that week and complaining of yet another bruised wing. Netty used to tell him to be more careful, beg that he would pay closer attention to where he flew, and overtime he followed this advice.

It took a while, seeing as he was off-balance in the first place and that he was the only bird hybrid on the Server since his mom had passed away, but eventually he found himself at a comfortable level of ability to fly. Sure, if there had been other hybrids with wings who lived nearby it probably would have taken less time, but he was proud of himself. When his mother was still around she would tell him fantastic stories about how they were descended from a greater species of bird hybrid which she never mentioned by name, and he would listen intently (though he never believed that such stories were true).

But his disbelief was proved wrong eventually, as many things are.

He and a group of his fellow Evolution citizens had just relocated, to a newer area of their land, searching to see if there was any possible way they could find better resources (or better yet, find other people). Unfortunately they had come up empty handed, but the group had decided that it was worth trying to expand their country's land anyway, just to make sure that if any lost travelers landed in their country's land they could find help.

It had been a long time since anyone new had come to their home.

No one remembered where their original people had come from- it had been way too long for insignificant details like that to be sustained. What they did know is that there were rarely any travelers and that what few people did land here (through flight or boat) usually left as soon as they could. Sometimes there would be hybrids who would wind up on the beach, washed up on the shore and cold as the stone around them.

If they could be taken care of they would be, and pretty much all of them left as soon as they got a chance too, telling the people who had found them that there were too many Watchers nearby and they weren't safe. But no one ever knew what they meant, since they didn't know who (or what) the Watchers were. Sure, they all had been here for entire their lives and if there really was an 'aura of evil' (as some people referred to it) they would not be able to feel it because of how accustomed they had become to it's ever-present air.

Grian's mother had been one of the few people to stay after his parents had had crashed- though his father did not survive the fall. According to her very resigned recollections it had almost been as though their wings had stopped working- and then they had started to fall. His fathers wings had broken (which was something Grian did not know was possible) and as his mother rushed to explain that he had on what was called an 'elytra' his confusion only doubled.

An elytra? A temporary pair of wings that could break? But since his mother was the only person he had ever heard the term from he assumed it was just another way to say that his father's wings had been too weak. No one else on the Server knew what an elytra was and his mother had never used one, so he didn't really believe her on that part.

No matter how real this strange tool was, it sounded terrifying and Grian was glad that he seemed lucky enough to not be affected by whatever force pushed down on his parents wings that day.

Perhaps it was because he had learned to fly in these circumstances that he did not have trouble fighting against them.

He had made friends with a few people- Netty, Taurtis, and others. He supposed that was why he had left with them to find new land. The group had traveled their way to new areas of the Server and when they did not find any more information of these strange beings that travelers referred to as an excuse to leave, they decided to stay where they were. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) this blissful ignorance would not last forever.

Eventually, there would be secrets found out, trusts betrayed, little details of their past unveiled, and so much else.

Eventually there would be more than a Server, more than a country, more than a group of people trying to survive.

That is never it in a world like this, there is always Something Else. Something... more than those everyday stories your mother tells you about how you are destined for greatness because of your ancestors. Proof that you are more than those stories and even that the subject of the fairytales are more than what they are described as.

Portals began to appear, tests of trust and honesty (many of which Grian would be unable to help, unable to prevent greed at the prospect of diamonds or iron for gear to protect himself). This was all the proof they needed of the 'Watchers' as so many of their beached visitors warned, but they didn't go back and tell the others. It was almost like they were being drawn in, some sort of siren song than no one could escape.

Each portal that was found, each life threatening clue that was unlocked, lead them closer to the freedom that so many of the other Servers around their world most likely felt.

Other people joined them over time (Grian's friend from his early days in the country, Pearl, was one of them) and they built up a city around them- a city to be proud of. A city that held new resources which they had never had before. New types of resources were discovered, new ways to get said resources were re-invented, and even if all of the animals which were were huntable left the area (perhaps as a result of the much more intense aura of their ever-watching overlords) it was worth it.

It was worth it to improve their lives. It was worth it for the sake of themselves, for they sake of finding what the possibilities of their world were, and for the sake of knowing who these Watcher beings were. No one was ever able to see any up close (though it was clear that they had extensive power, seeing as their portals were build of the Unbreakable Block) and Grian wanted to be the first to meet one.

To ask why they had broken his father's wings.

To ask why they had held back all these possibilities. (Even if it had been their true discovery that nudged the citizens onward and forced them to advance technologically.)

To, quite honestly, just vent out his emotions, just flood the world with his questions. He had so many unanswered pleas, so many unheard wonders, and he wanted them answered.

So, eventually, he got his wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scratch (not quite word for word): Did y'all like the first chapter? I kinda surprised myself, since I usually write super long chapters, but this short one is okay too! I am regularly not a huge fan of fanfiction that has only Grian, but I wanted to talk about the Evo server and he is the only connection between Evo and Hermitcraft. Also, I often write really long A/N's no big surprise there.
> 
> Anyway (I'm getting of topic) I am pretty proud of this, even if it has to be short because it's in the writing area of a Scratch project.
> 
> Some information for the future of this AU: I have wanted to write a Hermitcraft fic for a very long time but I've never sat down to do it before. But Hermitcraft isn't the only SMP I've wanted to put into words. Others- like Xlife, Evo, Dream SMP, and even PewDiePie's Broland- will be included as well.
> 
> It's part of my AU that these Minecraft servers are in the same 'world' and this world is ruled by a powerful breed of bird-hybrids called Watchers. (This is an idea from the lore of the Evo SMP.) Anyway, I'll have more information in later author's notes.
> 
> Basically what I'm trying to say is that the Hermit's characters are not going to be the only characters in this story. Watch out for others like Philza, Solidarity Gaming, and Captain Puffy in later chapters~
> 
> This chapter is fully set in the Evo server since I needed to set up background lore. (It will come in handy in the future.) Netty and whoever else I mentions are CC's who were on the Evo SMP before it ended. I used their characters for this. (Background info on this server is not necessary but it is greatly advised.)
> 
> As you can probably tell, this is set up a little different than most Minecraft SMP fics- what with the different servers being more like countries than their own worlds.
> 
> Okay!
> 
> Cool, I'm done with that now. Next chapter is coming out um.... whenever I feel like it I guess! Have a great day/night and I hope to see you back next chapter!
> 
> -  
> 
> 
> Here: Why yes, unnecessarily long notes almost the length of the chapter are my specialty. (✿◕‿◕)
> 
> Also someone on Scratch commented that 'the force that pushed down on [Grian's] parents wings' was, in fact, gravity and I laughed so hard I nearly cried.


	3. 【two】It's A Faded Memory

* * *

It was a long day- that day right after he and the others had gotten to the new ‘update’ (as they liked to call it).

Not a particularly spectacular experience, searching for a bedrock portal in the burning brimstone of the Nether. But they had done it using the clues which had been so graciously granted to them and they were not about to let the chance down. Perhaps it had been a lot of work, perhaps his wings were tired from being folded so tightly to his back to shield himself from the heat of the lava, and perhaps the clues that lead to this portal had seemed a little more vague than the last few times, but it was worth it.

Their struggles were worth the ease that came with the ability to do new things. Well, it wasn't that the ability had not been there before but rather that there had been no necessity to step so far out of their comfort zones to improve their lives. Sure sandstone stairs had been an interesting discovery but they had been spurred on but the need to build a city, the need to build something worthwhile. 

They could have been invented whenever, but the idea that the Watchers were real was enough to push simple building tradition out of the way to make room for inspiration. The inspiration seemed to come in bursts after each portal was found, but it was just realizing that they were getting closer to their goal, not that it was new knowledge allowed to them. The Watchers may have known what they did but they couldn't control what they knew.

Grian was thinking, at that moment, that maybe he would go and work on his base (it had been a long time since he had done so) or maybe he would collect some mob drops to leave in his shop. The possibilities were endless and he could feel his heart beating at the prospect of getting closer to whatever the Watchers were leading them towards.

He shivered, grinning as his wing tips quivered with excitement. He didn't know what sort of beast they were poking at by messing with the portals, didn't know what they were even heading towards, but he was excited to know that they weren't just living to survive any more. Now there was a reason to keep asking questions. Now there was a reason to continue his shenanigans, a reason to keep fooling with his friends, a reason to be playful.

It was such a wondrous thing to know that he was living through an important time.

He stood up, brushing off his knees before stretching his arms over his head, yawing and shutting his eyes, letting the feathers on the ends of his wings swoop outward. He blinked and finished the yawn with a satisfied chirp, looking down at the stone road below the sandstone and brick building he was perched on. Maybe he didn't have to go back to the base, this was a pretty healthy place to edit too. It was missing something, though what exactly he wasn't sure, and perhaps staying a bit longer would give him an idea as to what his next move in the town should be.

Peal's buildings were looming in the distance, much larger and further detailed. It was a series of organic buildings (which was something he struggled with) and through the bird hybrid admired them he did think that his town looked rather small and weak besides them. Of course he appreciated them, had even invited Pearl to work on the city with him because out of that respect, but it did make him think that his own builds could use some work.

"Hhm," he hummed, head twitching from side to side as he stared unseeingly at the bushes that lined the road. No matter how much he tried to focus it seemed impossible, like there was something else begging for his attention. He didn't know what exactly that could be, since he surely did not want to work on the base as hard as this and the mob drops store could wait, but it was aggravating him.

He paced backwards, taking a few steps away from the edge of the building and glancing upwards. The sun was lowering in the sky bit by bit, but he should have had enough time left to work on something before rest was to come. But then he saw something out of the corner of his eye- was that a black feather?

Grian turned to face the odd sight, cocking his head to the side when he saw that there was actually a feather resting on the edge of his building. He knew that he was the only bird-hybrid in this city, and even if someone else had showed up without his knowledge it was even stranger to realize- with a faint burn of curiosity- that he was sure the feather had not been there a few seconds before.

He bit his lip and took a couple steps closer, adjusting the belt on his green tunic as he went.

When he was close enough he bent down, scrutinizing the little details on the nearly-weightless object. He didn't reach out to touch it- no not yet- but the striking black color was enough for him to not need the unconscious checking of the color of his own feathers. This was not one of his own, it had to be someone else's. He bit his lip and twisted his head to peak over his shoulder, suddenly struck with the feeling of being watched.

When there was no one behind him despite the intense sensation he stood, cautiously making his way over to the other side of the roof, peaking over the edge to still find no one within sight. He mumbled to himself, though the words weren't even clear in his mind and stood back, trying to think.

As he slowly spun again to face the black feather it only barely registered in his mind that the sun was setting. The feather was much larger than his own, almost twice the size in fact, which was saying something because his wings were relatively large compared to his weight. Proportionately he knew that the wings that had yielded the black plumage would need to be very large, and if they belonged to a bird hybrid like himself the hybrid would have to be either tall or have wings that started small and fanned out to become larger.

But then he blinked in surprise, teeth clenching when he felt a gut wrenching feeling of danger. 

The feather was gone.

The regularly logical voice in the back of his head was telling him that the wind had blown it onto the ground, but the other half of him was very well aware that the air was quite still. There hadn't been much wind that day, not even enough to move such a weightless piece of animal matter. His blood felt cold as his heart pounded, spinning around again and curling his wings around him partially, they were the best defense he had. It was then, now possibly the fifth time he had spun around in the last minute, that he was finally met with something other than an empty roof.

Now, when you think of blood running cold, it's usually about as far as it seems that fear can affect you. But if Grian's blood had already run cold it must have frozen at the sight that met him on the roof of the building across the road. And, by the time the hybrid on the other roof was moving towards him, he felt for sure his blood must have begun to solidify into glacial ice.

He darted up into the sky, barely getting a good look at the being that was chasing him before the chase began. The main things he caught were two very bright blue eyes (almost the color of the ice his blood felt like against the inside of his veins) and two jet black wings twice the span of his own.

He swooped to the side, haphazardly zipping in and out between the taller buildings, hoping that the other's wings would make it hard for them to follow, but to his dismay he saw that they were flying higher up- presumably to dive upon him. It was then, while looking up, that he caught a glimpse of a shining blue axe in their right hand. He gulped and shot out from between the buildings, racing through the air towards town square.

He frantically flapped his wings, but he could he the wind whooshing in the other's wings close behind him. He sobbed out in fear and dived down towards the ground, swooping up at the last second (hoping that the tricky flying would slow down the winged person behind him).

He felt outstretched finger tips ghost over his sandals and yelped in alarm, pushing his wings even harder and catching a gust of wind that helpfully shot him upwards. He could hear an angry squawk cut through the air behind him, and though it seemed slightly less than human he could sense the rage that was held in it.

"Winged one," it screamed furiously, somehow disjoined and almost ahead of him (as if it was surrounding him from all sides), "Leave this place or die here!"

Whatever it was that was chasing him, they didn't have to tell him twice and he shot away over the land, not even stopping when he got the ocean. He didn't know exactly what he had done to provoke the hybrid but he did know that he didn't want to stay long enough to find out what they could do with their anger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scratch (not word for word): Yo yo yo, new chapter bois!!! (Nice isn't it? ^u^)
> 
> ALSO a plus! I'm pretty sure this chapter has signifigantly less typos than the first! Yay! c: [EEeee I'm so happy with this story so far~]
> 
> Also another thing, if the end of this seems a bit messy it's because I was nearing the end of the word limit in the Notes and Credits after filling up the Instructions. ._.
> 
> rip, it's okay though, I don't think it's that bad. Still, I hope it's understandable. (Also don't worry, it was supposed to be rather vague, that was on purpose.) Aannnnyyyway, I'm pretty certain that I don't have much else to say, since I can't say much else about about this.
> 
> I guess I'll ask though, what did you think of my description for the Watcher? (I know it wasn't very detailed but still.) Feel free to answer in the comments, but you don't have to. :)
> 
> Uhm, *checks notes*, yeah! That's about it, enjoy your feast of Evo SMP content for the day and prepare to have the Hermitcraft lands show up pretty soon!
> 
> Have a nice day/night and be careful out there- and don't run into any black feathers.
> 
> -
> 
> Here: Yea that's it, new chapters will come out when when I post them on Scratch. (Also, definitely gonna change how I get the Scratch A/Ns on there, it's a pain to re-type it out.)


	4. 【three】Fly West

* * *

Grian wasn't sure how long he had been flying, and the only thing that brought him back was the faint realization that he hadn't even had time to say goodbye to his friends. (And compared to the seriousness of the idea it was a bitterly resolute thought.)

He was sure that he should have passed over at least one other country by now despite how he had only seen ocean for the last few hours. Though his wings were quivering with exhaustion the adrenaline was still rushing through his veins he hadn't even made it to any new land, it was just empty water. He had started his panicked flight only a few minutes after the stars had dipped their faces into the sky and, with a quaking shock that resonated through his body as he panted in the effort to keep airborne, he realized that he was now chasing the sun over the foamed tipped waves. Had he really been flying that long?

At least he knew that he wasn't being followed.

Whatever the thing had been, or whoever rather (since it felt weird to refer to a being with even a vaguely human form as anything else), they hadn't followed him after he left Evo's borders. People rarely left the server, and when they did they didn't often come back, so he guessed that the black-feathered person would tack up his flight as permanent. He bit his lip, he supposed it would end up being permanent if someone like that was after him.

They had told him to leave or die, and the diamond axe in their hand was a pretty good indication that he should follow their orders. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more worried he became (and yet the more his resolution stiffened).

He hated the thought that he couldn't return to his home- to the place he had lived for all of his life. The forests that he had grown up in, the people he had developed relationships with, the buildings he had contributed to, the achievements he had helped with. The last year had been about as action packed as he could ever remember any part of his life being, their technological advances forced onward by necessity. The curiosity that had turned into necessity as soon as they found proof of the legends that had been passed down and turned into meaningless folklore. Black winged beings taller than a regular person with two almost glowing eyes (either red or blue depending on the story) and-

Grian nearly dropped out of the sky in delayed realization. 

The Watchers.

Whoever had chased had been a Watcher.

How in Evolution had he not seen it?

Had it been the panic? Had it been the sheer fact that he didn't want to connect the dots? Had it been that he had doubted that the Watchers were real even though there had been blatant proof in front of him for the last multiple months? Perhaps it was just how he had chalked up his mother's stories to simple bedtime tales that had pushed this thought onward.

He pulled at the collar of his tunic, making up for the unbalancing movement by stretching his wings out to their limit, gliding despite the slight shaking that the straining movement caused them. He bit his lip, trying not to let his panic overflow into any state of shock that would render him incapable of flight. He had to get to rest soon but he had only seen waves since he took flight...

Wait.

He squinted and raised his hand above his eyes, hoping to block out the rays of the now steadily rising sun, was... was that land?

Pausing mid-air, he pushed himself upwards instead of forward, hoping that he could glide a bit closer without using too much energy. He knew that there were other countries but because of the secluded nature of his own and the very little amount of trade that went on information was very thin and far between. He had to be positive that wherever he was going was safe before he landed.

He took off his green cap, yet again cursing himself for not bringing any armor. Of course he really had to way to know that he would be needing it, since the attack came completely out of nowhere (and as he thought about it his anxiety for his friend's safety only rose, but he knew that he couldn't go back or he could possibly put them in more danger). He took a deep breath, stuffing his hat in one of the little leather bags that hung from his belt and preparing himself for more fear.

He started his glide, lying horizontally out in the air and accepting the refreshing gust of wind that brushed it's way through his hair.

Was that... smoke?

The bird hybrid slowed his descent as he got closer, worry contorting his expression though there was no one there to see the change. It was definitely smoke. He felt his heart beating faster in his chest as the 'land' he had seen from all that way back in his flight got closer, and as it blurred properly into sight he felt a sickening feeling in his stomach.

Instead of the lush green hills he was used to seeing this country seemed to be covered in stone- and worse yet there were no visible trees anywhere. (The only bit of wood he could spot caught his eye only because it was burning.) When he squinted, directing his glide slightly away from what he thought could have been a destination (now tentative to set foot in such a place), he could see only a few people on the ground. They seemed to be fighting about something, and what seemed like a boulder dropped in his stomach when he realized that only two of them were moving.

He swerved away, hoping to all the word that he had not been spotted. Again, he shot away from what was clearly not a safe place to land. Was the rest of the world like this? Had he been booted out of the only place that would let him live safely? He wrapped his arms around his chest and squeezed in an attempt to hold onto some form of comfort. Peaking back over his shoulder as the fire-covered chaos disappeared behind him, he bit his lip.

There were words scrawled at the edge of the beaches where the sand met the water, names he didn't recognize and even cries for help. They were written from full blocks of obsidian, suspended in the air. He swallowed and turned away, speeding up further in an attempt to leave the danger behind him at a faster pace.

Even as he flew away he was met with more obsidian writing in the sky. He scowled upwards at it all hatefully, his mother hadn't described the world past his Server's borders like this. Had it changed since she had lived in it? Was it all on fire now or was there safety that he could find somewhere else? (In the back of his mind, he thought that perhaps safety could have been found by flying the other direction, but he was way too tired now to test that theory.)

Whatever the case, he had to find somewhere else to land, even if it was just as dangerous as the first land he had found. So he pushed onward, and onward, and onward... and onward.

By the time that something else appeared on the horizon his wings were periodically shaking with exhaustion and his breaths were coming in torn gasps. Technically, he was a very strong flyer- for short distances. Before this he had never traveled anywhere past his home server and that fact was pressing heavily down on him, making it a lot harder to have anticipated the pain and utter tiring reality that was flying with seemingly no end.

At first he didn't trust the sight of green grass. Didn't trust that the intact buildings were real. Thought that the gently waving flags were just a trick of his mind.

So as his brain built up the suspension, refusing to believe that the near-paradise in front of him was real, his body shivered and he slowly descended, flapping unevenly before landing not-so-gracefully in the middle of a cobblestone path. He shook with effort, trying to get up from where he had near-fallen, but he was too tired, too relieved to finally be on solid ground again.

Because of this flooding out of emotions he closed his eyes and rolled onto his back, chest heaving and limbs splayed out in a cartoonish star shaped way.

It wouldn't hurt to fall asleep in the middle of a new country, right? Not when he was too tired to move, not when the ache was starting to hit his muscles after the prolonged movement was abruptly brought to a close. It was like his muscles were locked in place, forcing him to rest before he was unable to go any further.

Even if it wasn't acceptable to pass out in an unfamiliar place his sleep deprived brain forced his overworked body into a state of calm. He was safe. He was finally safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scratch: Wow I'm really spitting out these chapters huh? (Ha ha, because they are trash and not enough effort is put into them? Get it? /j kinda)
> 
> I... uhm... am not super proud of this specific chapter and I struggled with it an almost comical amount but... here it is! New chapters are coming soon, and it's I hope that next one is going to be slightly more fufilling. :)
> 
> Also, Grian has on green because in the Evo series his skin was a Link (LOZ) skin and I liked it so it appears in this.
> 
> So, I kinda lied when I said Hermitcraft was gonna be in this chapter, sorry lol, but I promise it'll be in the next one! (He also gets his red sweatshirt next chapter!)
> 
> Annnnd, there ya go!
> 
> (The other server he came across was the anarchy server 2b2t, a very violent and unforgiving place. I do not recomend it to anyone but I thought it would be good to stick in this story just for funzies.)
> 
> If you are confused about the layout of this world don't worry, because I'm going to have a little map sketched out in the next chapter's A/N. :)
> 
> I belive that's it.
> 
> As per-usual, have a good day/night and I hope that you come back for the much higher quality next chapter! :D
> 
> -
> 
> Here: The drawing will be linked instead of pasted in lmao


	5. 【four】Never Left Alone Like That

* * *

Xisuma was pacing around their new and hastily established 'spawn' area. Him and the majority of his fellow Hermits had packed up their belongings and began the trek to the new Season- a new state or territory of their country. Sure some of the Hermits stayed in the previous season (just like the people who had dropped off before them, too attached to their homes to make new ones in new land) but he was excited.

No one new had joined, which was kind of a bummer, but he understood that they hadn't really invited anyone and the people they traded with went back to their own homes each time. There was a pretty heavy process of letting people live there, though some people who exceptions, because they wanted to be as sure as possible that they would be safe in their home. Of course anyone could drop by and stay the night but it often took more than that to become a Hermit.

He stopped his pacing and tapped his foot, looking around (hands on his hips) and hoping distantly that the new residents of his old base were happy with his armor. He rolled his shoulders absentmindedly, sort of missing the feel of his regular chestplate though the thrilling idea of starting over once more sent a pleasant chill down his spine.

He was waiting for the others to arrive, just so that they could work out where everything would go. Of course he had a general idea (the concept of splitting the new land into section for different themes had sounded pretty cool) but he just wanted to make sure that everyone was on board. Obviously he didn't expect anyone to be directly against it but he still wanted to make sure that if there were specifics to work out they went well with everyone's plans.

He shivered with anticipation, his near-useless bee wings buzzing behind him happily. (Near-useless because they couldn't carry him for very long if he even managed to lift off into the air. They were quite undersized for his overall weight and so he always wore an elytra when he got the chance- the added wings always a strengthening help for his real ones.)

Stretching an arm over his head and walking clunkily over to the edge of the piece of land he was standing on Xisuma yawned, bring a hand up to politely cover his mouth despite the fact that no one was there yet to witness it, and smiled. His eyes weren't really searching for anything but he was quite glad with the land they had claimed. This area was steadily heading Northward and away from all the previous Seasons (which were not abandoned but rather held by the Hermits who had stayed behind and the villagers who moved in or lived in the bases) but it was still kind of surrounded by the others.

It felt kind of home-like in a sense.

At least it felt that they weren't trespassing on land that was not theirs. Of course when a village was claimed by their Server there were very occasionally disputes but regularly the people in the villages didn't mind, the Hermits were just more people to trade with. It was always nice to have new people to trade with. (Sometime people from other Servers might had flown over for trade or rested in the villages but the trips weren't too common to all places.)

Their world wasn't extremely explored but most of the people who lived in it got the general picture. There was a lot of ocean- a whole lot of ocean- and quite a bit of land. Most of it was in the form of broken up islands, some small and some large, and because of this many of the Servers were archipelagos in their own right. As far as most everyone could tell there was more out there (and they might as well have been in a valley in the world) but once explorers got to the Farlands or the Cornerlands it became difficult to travel.

For whatever reason these places were quite difficult to transverse, either by flight or on foot. Unfortunately for the map enthusiasts they surrounded the little pocket of regular civilization on all sides. Maybe one day they would know what was past it, but that day would probably take a long time to come.

Xisuma shook his head and successfully removed the thoughts from the front of his brain. The prospect of the new Season was what he should have been thinking about, not the geography of the land and ocean that battled so vehemently around him.

So he tapped his side of his helmet to raise the visor, fluttering his wings for better balance out of habit (expecting more of an effect despite the fact that he was only wearing his helmet and an open backed vest. It worked as some sort of protection against the elements seeing as he was pretty stuck in his bee form for now.

Technically he was a shapeshifter but he didn't really have enough stability in his powers to trust himself to use it safely. To make matters worse it had been even harder to achieve recently. He sighed, crossing his arms around his middle and fluttering his wings harder as a gust of wind came his way.

He reached up and closed his visor again, letting the slightly green glass protect him a bit more from the surprisingly biting air. The sun was just rising and he really should have been prepared for the cold seeing as he was so near the ocean and the wind that blew over it cooled down significantly. Shivering, he walked backwards a bit onto the chunk of land he stood on, rubbing his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to stay warmer now that he had noticed the windy chill.

"Brr!" he laughed to himself, "I really should have brought a blanket!" It was a joke despite the fact that he was the only one there to hear it, he had left all the blankets on his old bed in the past seasons. He left them there for whoever would need them while dropping by on the way to their own Server- or even for the people who had stayed behind.

Sure it seemed like an act of plain kindness (and it was, really) but leaving belongings behind was all part of starting a new Season, a new city and it's surroundings. He smiled despite the now much colder air, watching the rays of sun sparkle against the waves that lapped at the edges of Spawn.

Though Xisuma wasn't exactly sure of all the details he did know that this start felt somehow... different. All the other Seasons had felt the same way when they had started but this felt... fun. It felt great to restart and yet there was something else about this time, something more despite how this feeling had been the same for every season. It was particularly odd because no one new was joining.

(He had to clarify to himself this because there were some of his old friends returning, Keralis, XB, and even Jessasin. There was just no one he had never met.)

But even as he pondered this to himself he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. And- with his added on bee 'hearing' he felt something whooshing through the air.

Spinning around to the source of the 'sound' he caught sight of a bright green tunic and two very scraggly looking wings- some sort of tanish color that wasn't quite clear through his tinted visor. He jumped into a more action ready pose but found himself unable to move closer, curiosity beating his need to greet visitors. Wanting to see what the person did, Xisuma stayed in place.

He cocked his head to the side as the person near collapsed to the ground. Had they been flying a long way? The green clothed (presumably) bird hybrid had certainly come out of seemingly nowhere, and at a very fast pace. Had they been rushed?

When the person didn't move he felt a small pang of fear, but still couldn't move, though the reason now was rather that he wanted to stall as long as he could before seeing the sorts of horrific injuries that his mind was conjuring up.

But when the screaming in his mind rose to a near-unbearable cacophony he leaped forward. Whoever had landed had collapsed on the ground on a couple of cobblestone blocks he had placed over a pesky sand bar- and though it was a bit away from him he rushed to get to it as fast as possible. His feet skimmed into the water as his weak and still undersized wings beat as hard as they could, but he knew that even his flawed flight would be faster than swimming.

It was a more than messy jump into the air but he managed it.

Luckily it wasn't a long flight (only ten or so feet) and because of this when his wings gave out he managed to duck and roll onto his back a few feet away from the person who had so unexpectedly arrived.

He rolled onto his stomach and to his knees crawling to the person's side (careful to avoid crushing their splayed out wings under him as he rushed over). Gently resting on his knees once he got close enough he kept his hands hovering, tentative to reach out and touch the green-clad hybrid in case they were hurt.

At first he didn't see them breathing.

But then when he looked closer, almost ready to lean down and listen for a heart beat, he saw the chest under the tunic rising and falling. It was slow, but it was there. Xisuma exhaled a shaky and relieved breath that he didn't even know he was holding.

Now that he could see the movement it became clear to him that the brunet's wings were twitching a bit, the muscles beneath the feathers mindlessly spasming even as their owner had passed out from what was quite clearly exhaustion. Frowning, Xisuma wondered how far they had flown to overwork their wings that much.

He decided not to think too hard about it and instead glanced over to where the sun was rising (of course not looking directly at it). It seemed that some of the other Hermits would be arriving soon. Wondering out loud what they would think of the brunet, Xisuma prepared for whatever was to come- heart beating faster.

Was this what was special about this Season?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scratch: Welllll, that was certainly... something.
> 
> I mean, I'm not upset with the quality of this chapter (and the previous one has grown on me) but there was just so much I wanted to write and I had to fit it in such a small character limit. qwq (Yeah, I'm gonna keep brainlessly complaining about this.) xD
> 
> Anyway, what do you think?
> 
> I kinda had to rush through this since I actually wanted this set in season 7 despite the fact that I prefer the settings in season 6. I pretty much only watched cc Grian's season 6 since I had just found out about the SMP and wanted to rush through it so that I could follow the storyline as it went. Me and [sister] pretty much watch everyone now though. (So I have a greater grasp of season 7.)
> 
> So yeah, there are a gonna be probably one or two more chapters of lore building before I actually dive into the plot. I'm still not exactly certain what said plot is going to be- but I'll try lol.
> 
> Fun fact! I'm actually writing these with what pops up in my head after looking at the chapter title. I wrote all of the titles first (all eighty of them) and am going from there.
> 
> I would list the chapter titles but because of the way I'm writing this it could be considered spoilers..,,..,,,.,,,.,,.,.,....,.,..,,..... Nonetheless, I speedran those first three, what with the break in between the being sooooo short but the next ones are going to come out more sensibly. My school was just heading into February break when I started this and I had time. From here on out I'll probably update slower.
> 
> Not, like, insensibly slower, but so that I can focus on my homework. (Keep in mind that I'm also on a schedule for other fandom fics elsewhere. ;e;)
> 
> Yeeee! That about wraps it up!
> 
> (Wow I am getting ~lazy~ with these chapter covers huh? It's kinda hard to think of 'em with the color pallet I picked.)
> 
> OOooooh wait! I just remembered what I wanted to say last A/N!
> 
> To clarify some things (and because the other Hermits are just starting to be characters) I wanted to list what everyone is a 'hybrid' or because this is- no duh- a hybrid AU.  
> \---  
> Grian is a bird hybrid  
> Xisma is a bee hybrid right now (a shape- shifter for real though)  
> Cleo actually is a zombie  
> Stress is a snow golem hybrid  
> Tango is a blaze hybrid (my favorite mob in the nether other than Striders!)  
> Doc is a creeper hybrid  
> False isn't a hybrid but like Doc she has mechanical parts (her leg specifically in this AU)  
> Jevin is a slime hybrid  
> Wels is descended from pillagers  
> Zedaph is a sheep hybrid (like Puffy)
> 
> I might have forgotten some but unless I specify in the future I am *pretty sure* that that's all there is.
> 
> (I can't wait to draw Stress! Eeee!!!)  
> Have a FANTASTIC night/day and drink some water* mate, you deserve it.  
> *This advice is very much for me rather  
> than y'all xD
> 
> -
> 
> Here: Heh, so, I wrote this at 2AM, posted it on Scratch, and passed out so the original release date is technically the 19th instead of the 20th. Also I somehow managed to forget Ren, I dunno how, but I did.


	6. 【five】How Could You?

* * *

It had been quite some time since Grian had landed in Hermitcraft Season Six.

And if, by 'quite some time', one is to expect a bit over a year it would be the right term.

That cobble stone path he had landed on (really it was just a few blocks that were placed down to mark new territory, but in his tired mind it looked as good as any fully paved road) had surely led to some interesting occurrences. He had been accepted into the Hermitcraft society much faster than many of the people who came before him, according to Xisuma, and had very quickly risen to become an important face on the server.

Yeah he had started the war of the last season, but it was mostly all fun and games. Of course some of the acts of anger carried through in slight but not enough for any of them to actively strike out against each other with real violence. The battles had been tough but it was always comforting to know that it was just for fun and there were certainly places out there that had it worse- real wars with real violence. He didn't like thinking about that.

The other thing he didn't like thinking about was that game 'he' had started.

Demise.

Even thinking it's name sent shivers up his spine, then thousand crawling legs prickling the bones themselves from all the way on the exterior of his skin. If he didn't like thinking about the true wars all across the other serves he hated thinking about that game. The game of death which he had started for a mere prize of a few blocks of diamonds. (To be fair it was more than just a few blocks, and surely enough overall to last one person through at least and inventory of firework-stacked shulker boxes.)

But the more the bitter idea of the game drifted around in his mind the more he became accustomed the the fact that it wasn't really him who had started the game. Maybe it had felt that way at the start, maybe it had felt that way nearly up until the end even, but he knew now that whatever had compelled him to start the game had not been a thought of his own. All the others knew it just as well as he, maybe even more because of the fear he felt towards the idea of not having full control over his actions blurred his judgement. He was aware that he had been in a trance like state when he had put his name down, and he was more than aware that after he did it there had been that sinking feeling of wrongdoing.

His name was the first in the book.

His diamonds were the first on the pile.

He was the first one to play into 'his' game that was, in no way, his own fault. It was so bitterly unfair that he was able to be drawn in by something like that- though what 'that' was he was unsure. All Grian knew for sure was that he had been drawn into writing that book, drawn into placing those diamonds, drawn into opening such a dangerous opportunity for chaos. Like a moth to an uproaring of fire, he had been tricked.

Like so many other things it had been the Watcher's doing.

He didn't want to think of the details of the game, not now, but he remembered (through the hazy grim light of whatever had possessed him to do such a thing) the words 'canon death' 'erased' and 'we only have one'. One of what, he had concurred, was the so-called canon deaths. He had heard of such a thing from other servers, and even from the legends of the server planes that were connected from the world's spawn point. They only had one canon life, one chance or they would be dead- for good- but in other places he had heard the vague counts of three or so.

Usually, in Hermitcraft, there was no such thing as a canon death... but his game had changed that for a short amount of time. Luckily for everyone who had foolishly entered the game the hermits who had not put their names in the book had been able to revive them all, been able to keep their life forces alive until the end of the game. Been able to save them from their certain demise.

He really, really, really respected those Hermits for that. (Of course some villagers had helped, even a few pillagers who wanted the books magic to stay their own.) It was odd, huh? Keeping that magic 'their own' as if Grian hadn't just created it. Or... or maybe he hadn't been the one to create it, maybe he had only been the one to open it up to the public once more. According to Joe the pillager leader he had spoken to had mentioned it being their magic from a 'more ancient time'. Weird!

Whatever the case, he really didn't want to bring it back upon them now.

That was the reason he didn't really fool around with magic anymore, even if the first time had been a complete and utter accident. These days he was careful to avoid anything and everything which seemed capable of bringing the wrath of that game, the wrath of Demise. He researched before he started games, he researched before he started anything really, and made sure to never be under the effect of that part of Season Six when he got ideas. Sometimes he flew over it, appreciating the build battle, appreciating all the hard work that he had put into his time in that state of the Hermitcraft country.

But whenever he flew over he didn't stick around for long.

He wanted to, really he did, to look for longer at his builds, to stare at the vacant spot his mansion had been moved from, to say hello to Villager Grian's family. But he never could. He didn't want to bring that sort of thing with him to the new state. None of the others worried so much, maybe because they had lived through more on this server, maybe not.

They had all been through a lot together, even fought in that war which had started as a joke. They had been to hell and back during the Demise game, he had even fooled with them in this 'new' state (what with the Mycelium and all, though that had been less of a joke and more of a real protest). Even if they fought sometimes each and every one of them understood what it was like to live on other servers.

To his knowledge no one had started out living here, all of them had come from other places. Some of them, like him, had been in other established countries before they moved here, but others (like Stress) had lived in non-political territories meant to keep them safe. She was, after all, a rather rare hybrid and there were definitely terrible people out there who would try their best to hurt her to get a reward. That was what Grian liked about Hermitcraft.

Not only were they far more advanced technologically than his old home of Evolution but they didn't care what background their citizens were from. It was comforting knowing that.

There were blaze hybrids, snow golem hybrids, regular people, people with specified genes inherited from their shapeshifter parents, and even two creeper hybrids. He didn't feel out of place as a person with wings, in fact he felt as though he was right where he was supposed to be.

So what a shocker it was when Stress ran up to him as he strolled through the shopping district, panting and out of breath.

"Woah woah woah," he held his hands up as she tried to speak, only spluttering out panicked gibberish, "What- what's wrong?"

His wings curled instinctively as she tried to catch her breath, shivering despite the fact she struggled to feel the cold. "It's- it's back..!" she exclaimed, waving her hands wildly and causing frost to form and crack on the edges of her fingers, "It's back Grian, I don't know what I did!"

"What? What's back?" Grian reached out and grabbed her wrists, trying to get her to stop waving her hands (the frost was starting to form on his own hands and the ground around the other hermit), "What is it?"

"Demise!" She panted, hopping from one foot to the other, "I blacked out last night and found myself back in Season Six, the book was there!"

Grian felt his blood run cold. "What do you mean?"

"I can't- I can't be much more clear can I?" Stress panicked, "The book from Demise, it was there!"

"Were... were our names in it?" Grian's jaw was locked and his throat seemed to seize up. This was what he got for thinking about that Aether forsaken game.

Stress nodded, and as she tapped her feet Grian glanced down and saw that they were dotted with little chunks of ice and the soles of her boots were definitely wet. "I flew here as fast as I woke up, but it looks like they were in my hand writing, do you think I did it?"

Grian would have shrugged but the situation was too dire, "I don't know Stress," his voice was dead, "how many names were there?"

"All of us," she breathed, "and a few more. Oh End, what am I going to do?"

"We're going to tell them," Grian tried to think levelly, but his mind was jumping to the worst conclusions, "We're going to break the news to them as soon as possible. Can you call a meeting?"

Stress nodded, and the fear on her face matched his own, "What are they going to say?"

"They won't be mad," Grian promised, "They know you wouldn't do this on purpose,"

"Okay," Stress choaked, "I'll run over there."

"Don't you want to fly?" he asked nervously, unaware of the possibility that it was an expression, "You would get there quicker than boating,"

She shook her head, apparently also unaware that it could be an expression, "I wasn't going to boat anyway,"

Before Grian could ask what she could have meant, in that case, she was already dashing away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scratch: New chapter pog! :DDD
> 
> I'm sorry it took so long to get out, I've just been having writer's block wilst working on my other stories, so this one got influenced by my struggles on those other stories.
> 
> I'm kinda pushing to get into the plot now, as you can tell by this chapter skipping over season 6 in entirety lmao.
> 
> Since I've been working on a lot of other creative thins- stories, animatics, ect,- this work has kind of been suffering. I know that's an odd thing to say when I've only made it to chapter five but I'll say it anyway, just try and stop me! >:D
> 
> Nonetheless, I'm gonna be working on a actual plot chapter next. Keep in mind that if I was writing these chapters to the full length I normaly do they would be much longer and the first four chapters (everything before this) would most likely be part of one prolouge section. Since I am not writing these to full lenth, however, they each get their own title and artwork!
> 
> Okay, yeah. I don't really have much to say about this chapter (don't I always say that though) but I do have to say that coming up with the art for each is the *hardest* part of this process by far. ;w;
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is basicaly ha ha personalized Demise lore goes brrrrr. But in all seriousness I do have some real credits for this chapter.
> 
> I took a few ideas of the game from "The Corruption of Necromany" by Duchess_Of_Dumpsters on Ao3. I'm building onto the idea differently than in that story but the same trance-like state was used.
> 
> Reference context is...
> 
> The Dream SMP, a server with real wars, and Loverfella's Multiplayer Server, a server fully based on ecomomy and trade.
> 
> In this map of the universe which I have created Loverfella's server is almost due North of Hermitcraft. The Dream SMP is South by what would count as thousands of miles, if not a million.
> 
> Loverfella's server is big in money and important to the overall state of trade because of this. Hermitcraft is peaceful and is on quite good terms with them, but that's not as impresive as it sounds on paper since they are a very neutral nation with almost no bad blood.
> 
> The Dream SMP is very closed off and violent, simaler to 2b2t in the way that once you enter it is hard to leave.
> 
> Besides that, I have something exciting to (maybe) anounce!
> 
> I'm trying to make a comic version of this fic, and if I get anywhere I will provide a link. :3
> 
> But that's enough jibber-jabering!
> 
> Again, have a great night/day and be safe out there. Promise me you'll drink some water too okay? And get some sleep?
> 
> I have not been doing either of those things enough so maybe if enough people do it instead of me I'll be inspired to do so. Bye! :D
> 
> -
> 
> Here: Ugh this chapter is soooo messy. Also please check out the fic I mentioned, its really good!

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it! >:3


End file.
